AgustaWestland case: Ratul Puri's ED custody extended by 3 days

A Delhi court on Monday extended businessman Ratul Puri's ED custody by three days in connection with Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.

On September 11, the court had sent Puri to the custody of Enforcement Directorate (ED) for five days. At the end of his custody today, the ED sought his custodial extension.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) DP Singh and advocate Naveen Kumar Matta, representing the agency, told Special judge Arvind Kumar that the ED needs to confront him with certain people and "incriminating documents" recovered during the searches conducted at his office from September 7 to 14.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, appearing on behalf of the accused, strongly opposed the submissions and said that his client has already spent many days in the ED custody.

Puri was allowed to meet his mother, Neeta Puri, in the court today.

Puri, the nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, had earlier filed an application in the court seeking its permission to surrender in the case.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the purchase of 12 VVIP choppers from Italy-based Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland.

The deal was scrapped by the NDA government in 2014 over the alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payment of kickbacks for securing the deal.